Candidates Tournament Round 6

It was another day of high excitement and fighting chess at the 2013 Candidates Tournament in London, with Magnus Carlsen winning his third game of the event against Peter Svidler.

As soon as Carlsen achieved the freeing central pawn break with 17...d5 his pieces were more active and the pressure gradually increased on Svidler until he blundered with 33.Qh5, losing his bishop and the game.

Magnus Carlsen scored his third win

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Carlsen's result was his second win with the black pieces

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The next game to finish was the clash between Vladimir Kramnik and Vassily Ivanchuk. Kramnik was still looking for his first win after Lev Aronian miraculously slipped through his fingers yesterday, and with Ivanchuk once again burning a lot of time on the clock early in the game it looked good for the Russian.

Kramnik took advantage of Ivanchuk's time trouble by launching a direct sacrificial attack on his king. But a rook down, Kramnik couldn't find a knockout blow for his attack and decided to repeat moves, despite Ivanchuk having just 1 minute left and 10 moves still to play before the first time control!

Kramnik explained in the post match press conference, "If Vassily had 5 seconds left, then I would continue, but with one minute...", and joked,"Players are not blundering pieces to me!"

Win-less Vladimir Kramnik - unlucky so far?

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Carlsen may have had hopes of being the sole leader of the tournament, but Lev Aronian's perseverance in a long game with Teimour Radjabov was rewarded with a blunder from his opponent when 53. Nxe5 lost on the spot.

Lev Aronian,"I was very frustrated, but I got lucky"

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Teimour Radjabov's blunder proved costly

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It was also Lev Aronian's second win with black

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The last game to finish looked like being another win for the black pieces, but Boris Gelfand somehow managed to squander a winning position against Alexander Grischuk in a game where both players struggled to manage their clock time.

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Time-trouble addict Alexander Grischuk

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Boris Gelfand missed a good chance for a win

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Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand have both yet to win a game

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The standings after six rounds

Name

Fed

Elo

Pts

Magnus Carlsen

NOR

2872

4½

Levon Aronian

ARM

2809

4½

Peter Svidler

RUS

2747

3

Vladimir Kramnik

RUS

2810

3

Teimour Radjabov

AZE

2793

2½

Alexander Grischuk

RUS

2764

2½

Vassily Ivanchuk

UKR

2757

2

Boris Gelfand

ISR

2740

2

Tomorrow (Friday) is the second rest day and two questions suggest themselves as we approach the halfway point of the tournament. Firstly, is the winner already between Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen who are 1½ points clear of the rest of the field? And secondly, is the time control (with no increments until move 60) having a significant effect on the results of the games?

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The 2013 Candidates Tournament runs from 14 March - 2 April in London, with the winner earning the right to challenge current world champion Vishy Anand for the title.

The tournament is an 8-player double round-robin event and the venue is The IET at 2 Savoy Place on the banks of the river Thames. The total prize fund is €510,000 (approx 665,000 USD).

All rounds start at 14:00 GMT, and the time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then an extra hour added for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes more with a 30 second increment to finish.

Some very Silly comments here. overall I believe Carlsen has grown to define his style- he has a positional intuition second to none and this works for him.

do you think he will change the way he plays to make kibitzers happy?

Another thing is this @ Chessdoggblack. Have you watched all the interviews with Carlsen?? to say his character flaw is 'brattiness' is not an evaluation you could ever make based on evidence from media. I have observed one thing- among chess players, especially for all his achievements, he is quite humble; he gives due respect to his opponents and this is seen time and again;

I'll never forget when asked if he thinks he is the best player in an important interview, he told them all the top players play at pretty much the same level when in form, its just that he never has bad tournaments-- I promise you, you will not find many world number one's in their prime, (in a sport which often lends itself to heavy egos) throughout the entire Chess era, who would say such a thing

diogens: "Yes, the attitude which the basement players face the final rounds could be decisive. And the sportmanship, all of us know that in chess they are many prearrengments. I remember suggesting in few months ago in one of these forums that adding a 2nd. round robin with the top4 would be better."

that is an excellent idea. a round robin in which the top 10 play 2 rounds and then a second round robin later the year with the top 3 AND Anand! The 2nd round robin is let say 4 rounds. If the top 3 go through to the 2nd round then the fight will not just be between the two leaders but anyone will still have a chance for the 3rd place.

@chessdoggblack: " Carlsen's chess attitude: "I don't care 2 cents about any other chess players in this world." I have been made into a chess God and no one can destroy me. " I do not believe his quote means this at all, misinterpretation on your part.

Fischer is far from the greatest. He ran away from Karpov and Kasparov, giving up his title. Carlsen right now would have crushed Fischer at his peak. Fischer's profound psychiatric problems, and his refusal to ever accept any help, were his undoing.

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